Financial market website Zero Hedge knocked off Twitter over coronavirus story

Twitter Inc has banned financial market website Zero Hedge from the social media platform after it published an article linking a Chinese scientist to the outbreak of the fast-spreading coronavirus last week.

Zero Hedge said it received a notification from Twitter on Friday, accusing it of violating the social media company's "rules against abuse and harassment."

The move against the website came as the coronavirus has stoked a wave of anti-China sentiment around the globe. Hoaxes have spread widely online, promoted by conspiracy theorists and exacerbated by a dearth of information from the cordoned-off zone around China's central city of Wuhan, where the outbreak began.